In Germany, members of opera ensembles can receive honorary titles: Kammersänger, chamber singer, and Kammermusiker, chamber musician. In Saxony an administrative regulation of 22 June 1998 sets the conditions for the Saxon State Opera in Dresden and the Landesbühnen Sachsen. A singer needs leading artistic achievements and continuous, regular and successful work in the productions. An orchestra musician needs outstanding artistic achievements and at least five years of unbroken membership of the ensemble in Dresden, or eight at the Landesbühnen. To keep the titles from losing their value, at most three a year may be awarded at the Dresden State Opera, and one at the Landesbühnen.
music
The Solo Trumpeter and the Posthorn
A German symphony orchestra employed a musician as 1. und Solo-Trompeter, first and solo trumpet. The employer also wanted him to play the piccolo trumpet, the cornet, the flugelhorn, the natural trumpet and the posthorn, against an extra allowance under the orchestras’ collective agreement. The question went to the Federal Labor Court. On 18 January 2012 the court ruled against the trumpeter. His title describes his function in the orchestra, but it does not fix the instruments he plays. Der Kläger kann nicht frei entscheiden, ob er mit diesen Instrumenten mitwirkt. The plaintiff cannot decide freely whether he plays these instruments.
A Season of Dates
The Bavarian State Opera in Munich sells subscriptions for its season. The dates of the subscription performances are printed on the subscription card, although the opera reserves the right to change them. Under the terms for 2025/26, a subscriber can cancel during the running season only aus außerordentlichen Gründen, for extraordinary reasons. For the next season, subscribers are offered a renewal with the same seats.
An Application for an Application Form
In 1977 the singer-songwriter Reinhard Mey released the single Einen Antrag auf Erteilung eines Antragsformulars, an application for the issue of an application form. In the song, a man who needs a form is sent from one office to the next. He meets a stand-in who knows nothing, a doorman, an office closed for a party and an official on leave. A form of the word zuständig, responsible, appears in the song. In the end he learns that the form is no longer in use.
No Beauty
Herbert Grönemeyer’s song Bochum comes from his 1984 album 4630 Bochum. It is a song of love for the city. It also states plainly that the city is not beautiful and that it is grey from work. Since 1992 the song has been played before every kickoff at VfL Bochum.
The Orchestra Votes
A new player in a German orchestra first wins an audition. In a judgment of 25 October 2017, the Federal Labor Court quoted the audition rules of one state theater orchestra. Das Probespiel ist kein Wettbewerb im üblichen Sinne, sondern eine Einstellungsprüfung. The audition is not a competition in the usual sense, but an entrance examination. The winner then gets a contract for a probation year, as a rule. Before the year ends, the section, the artistic council, the chief conductor and the orchestra board discuss the candidate and vote in writing and in secret. After that, every member of the orchestra has a week to cast a vote. The candidate needs an absolute majority of the votes cast.
The Jury’s Word Is Final
Since 1964, young musicians in Germany have competed in Jugend musiziert, youth makes music. They play first at regional level, then at state level, then in the federal competition. More than three quarters of a million young people took part in the first 56 years. At every level the juries are made up of qualifizierte Fachleute, qualified specialists. They award up to 25 points. A soloist goes on from the state to the federal competition only with 25 points. The rules say: Die Entscheidungen der Jurygremien sind unanfechtbar. The juries’ decisions cannot be challenged.
A List of Errors
On March 8, 1819, Ludwig van Beethoven wrote from Vienna to Ferdinand Ries in London. With the letter he sent a Fehlerverzeichnis, a list of errors, for the copy of his String Quintet op. 104. He added that the copy of the sonata op. 106 also contained many errors. He blamed the faulty copies on time pressure and on the age of his copyist, Wenzel Schlemmer. The autograph letter is held by the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn.
Not Before the Whole Ring
Richard Wagner saw his cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen as a single whole. When its first part, Das Rheingold, was ready, the cycle was not. Wagner wanted to wait until it was complete and stage it himself. King Ludwig II of Bavaria did not want to wait. He scheduled the performance at the Royal Court and National Theater in Munich, and Das Rheingold was first performed on September 22, 1869. Wagner stayed away from the premiere.
Over This Fugue the Author Died
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge, The Art of Fugue, ends with a fugue that breaks off. In the autograph, his son Carl Philipp Emanuel wrote a note at that point. Ueber dieser Fuge, wo der Nahme BACH im Contrasubject angebracht worden, ist der Verfasser gestorben. Over this fugue, where the name BACH was placed in the countersubject, the author died. The first printed edition appeared in 1751. Its preface told buyers that the composer’s eye disease and death had kept him from finishing the work. The family added a chorale as compensation for the incomplete last fugue.
Scholars today consider it unlikely that Bach died while working on this fugue. The gap itself was never hidden.